Tool

ABSTRACT

A paint brush is composed of several parts removably attached to one another, being a handle, a stock and one or a plurality of brush head units. Sockets and spigots which form an interference fit in the socket are used to join the parts. In particular the handle has a socket into which a spigot on a stock is pushed and spigots on the brush head units are pushed into sockets at the other end of the stock to form a brush of conventional shape. Stocks are provided with different numbers of sockets to receive different numbers of brush head units to make up brushes of different sizes as desired. Brush head units are replaceable individually after wear.

Waite ttes Patet [1 1 Coombes Sept. 11, 1973 I TOOL {76] Inventor: James Eric Coombes, 135 Wardrew [52] U.S. CI. 15/202, 15/143 R, 15/176, 15/194 [51] Int. Cl A461) 7/04 '[58] Field of Search 15/171, 176, 202,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,698,128 1/1929 F'unk 15/194 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 560,459 10/1932 Germany 15/194 462,650 3/1951 Italy 15/194 4,009 12/1900 Austria 15/146 501,778 6/1952 Belgium 15/194 13,659 11/1906 Great Britain 15/191 R Primary ExaminerPeter Feldman Attorney-Harris C. Lockwood [57] ABSTRACT A paint brush is composed of several parts removably attached to one another, being a handle, a stock and one or a plurality of brush head units. Sockets and spigots which form an interference fit in the socket are used to join the parts. In particular the handle has a socket into which a spigot on a stock is pushed and spigots on the brush head units are pushed into sockets at the other end of the stock to form a brush of conventional shape. Stocks are provided with different numbers of sockets to receive different numbers of brush head units to make up brushes of different sizes as desired. Brush head units are replaceable individually after wear.

6 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PATENTED 1 I915 3'. 757, 376

SHEET 1 [IF 2 PATENTEDSEPI 1 ms SHEET 2 BF 2 TOOL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the invention to obviate the need to have one brush of each required size.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention provides a brush made up from a handle removably attached to a stock whieh in turn is removably attached to one or a plurality of brush head units to form a conventional brush shape. One of the removable attachments is by means of an interference push fit between a spigot on one part with a socket on the other. This may be done for both attachments.

The brush head units preferably comprise a plurality of bristles permanently secured together at one portion. A plurality of stocks may be provided, each being adapted to receive a different number of brush head units.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a part-sectional view of a brush with one brush head unit removed;

FIG. 2 is a section through part of a brush head unit;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a brush head unit;

FIG. 4 is a section through a stock adapted to receive one brush head unit;

FIG. 5 is a section on the line V V of FIG. 4 or FIG. 8; I

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a stock showing the means for attachment to a handle;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a stock showing the means for attachment to five brush head units; I FIG. 8 is a section through a stock adapted to receive three brush head units, and

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of an assembled brush of FIG. 1 including four brush head units.

In the drawings the same reference numerals are used for like parts.

SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 9 is pushed into the socket 5. The stock and handle are held together by this frictional push fit during use of the brush but may be removed from one another by overcoming this friction. At the end portion 8 of the stock 7 around the neck of the spigot 9'there is a locking key 13 which is rectangular or substantially rectangular and which engages a correspondingly shaped recess at the mouth of the socket 5 in the end of the handle 1. This prevents rotation of the stock relative to the handle once the two parts are assembled but allows twisting once the key 13 is free of the recess. The locking key 13 can be seen clearly in perspective in FIG. 6.

The stock 7 has a plane face 15 at its opposite end to the spigot 9 in which there is a shallow rectangular recess 16 and four sockets 17 extend into the body of the stock from this face 15 within the recess 16. Each socket 17 is adapted to receive a spigot 19 of a brush head unit 21. Three brush head units 21 (not sectioned) are shown in place extending longitudinally with respect to the handle and a fourth may be inserted to complete the brush which then corresponds to FIG. 9. The spigot 19 of a brush head unit 21 removably attaches the unit 21 to the stock 7 by a frictional push fit with the socket 17 in a similar manner to the spigot 9 in the socket 5. The spigot 19 has two circumferential ribs 23 which provide an interference fit with the walls of the socket 17 but the brush head unit may be removed from the stock by pulling with-a force sufficient to overcome that friction of this interference fit.

A brush head unit 21 is shown in greater detail in FIGS. 2 and 3. A bunch of bristles 25 are permanently secured together at one end 27 by resin adhesive and inserted into a cup 29 which bears the spigot 19. Before assembling the bristles to the cup 29, some resin is poured into the inverted cup so as to fill the inside of the hollow spigot 19 as far as an internal rib 37. This resin bonds to the bonded end of the bristles 25 on insertion so that the keying efi'ect of the resin in internal grooves 35-of the spigot and on the rib 37 helps to retain the bunch of bristles 25 and prevents it being withdrawn. The square portion 39 of the cup 29 seats within the recess 16 in the face 15 of the stock 7 when the two parts are assembled to act as a locking key to retain the brush head units against rotation relative to the stock. The abutment of adjacent flat faces of the cup 29 when the brush head units are assembled to the stock also prevents rotation of the units.

The cups 29 are provided with external ridges 41 to provide a finger grip for pulling or pushing the brush head units 21 from or into the stock 7.

The handle 1 has an aperture-43 at its end portion remote from the stock 7 whereby it may be hung on a hook or other. suitable projecti'on. The stock 7 has an aperture or bore 45 adapted to receive a dowel not shown) whereby the brush may be supported by therim of a paint tin or other horizontal edge. I

FIG. 6 shows a view of a stock 7 in which the locking key 13 at the neck of the spigot 9 can be clearly seen.

' FIGS. 4, 7 and 8 illustrate stocks of various sizes, adapted to removably receive one, three or five brush head units like the unit 21 described above. Each stock therefor has the appropriate number of sockets 17 in its face 15 remote from the spigot 9 by which it is itself removably attached to a handle. The face 15 of each stock has a rectangular recess 16 in which the square portion of a brush headunit 21 can be received. The position of a square locking key 13, as shown in FIG. 6, is indicated by the dotted line in FIGS. 4 and 8.

FIG. 5 shows a typical cross section at right angles to that of FIGS. 4 and 8. This cross section will be common to-thosestocks having a socket 17 in line with the spigot 9, irrespective of the number of sockets 17.

FIG. 9 illustrates an assembled brush using four brush head units and ready for use.

The bristles 25 are about '6 inch wide, so that four would be needed for a 2 inch brush and about inch deep, which gives the thickness of the brush.

The handle 1, stocks 7 and cups 29 are moulded from plastics material but may be made of any other suitable material.

As an alternative to the stocks having locking keys 13, there may be provided stocks in which the spigot 9 has a flat surface on one side to co-operate with a flat surface in the socket of a handle to thereby prevent rotation of the stock relative to the handle. As a further modification, the brush head units may be made from a bunch of bristles like 25 moulded directly into a cup. The bristles could be replaced by another medium, e.g. foamed plastics. Clearly the stocks may be adapted to receive any number of brush head units to give the brush size required. The positions of the spigots and sockets on the parts may be reversed from that de scribed.

From the foregoing embodiments which were given by way of example only it will be apparent that the size of the brush can be readily varied and thus a range of different sized brushes can be obtained at a much lower initial cost than at present. In a set of brushes, in order to obtain such a range it is necessary to have only one handle, one of each different size stock and a sufficient number of identical brush head units to fill the largest of these or a larger number to allow for replacement (for example six stocks to take from one to six brush head units and 12 units, together with one handle). It is envisaged that a set such as this may be provided in a special case and such a set may also include other decorating tools, e.g. a paint scraper blade, a putty knife blade or paint stirrer. Clearly handles of different sizes could also be included in the set. The brush segments could also be bought separately to replace those that become worn or hardened with paint and this is obviously cheaper than buying a whole new brush. Instead of buying a whole set at once, a few pieces could be bought at first and further stocks and brush head units added later until a full range is built up.

I claim:

l. A paint brush comprising a stock integrally formed of plastic and having on one end' a portion for attaching an elongated handle and at the opposite end socket means for removeably attaching a plurality of brush head units; an elongated handle attached to said one end portion of the stock; said socket means in the stock extending longitudinally and substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of said handle; brush head 'units for attachment to said stock, each having spigot means extending from one end longitudinally with respect to the axis of the handle for removeable receipt in said socket means of the stock and a cup extending oppositely to said spigot means and thereby substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of said handle, said cup having securely retained therein one end of an elongated body for use in applying paint to a surface; said socket means in the stock and said spigot means on each brush head unit having cooperating means whereby each brush head can be independently, securely and resiliently frictionally engaged in each socket; said stock adjacent each socket means therein having a formed abutment portion to receive a cooperating shaped portion on each cup of the brush head to prevent movement in all directions except longitudinal; whereby in use, the cup of a brush head unit can be manually gripped and inserted and detached from the stock, by exerting a force longitudinally thereto which is sufficient to overcome the frictional retaining force, to thereby readily reduce the effective width of the paint brush.

2. A paint brush according to claim 1, wherein each spigot is of reduced cross-sectional area relative to that of the cup on which it is formed.

3. A paint brush according to claim I, in which said cooperating shaped portion on each cup is a substantially rectangular locking key formed at the neck of each spigot, said formed portion on the stock is a recess of corresponding shape formed at the mouth of each socket so that each locking key can engage a respective recess on insertion of the spigots into the sockets.

4. A paint brush according to claim 1, in which each of the cups is substantially square in cross-section, and the said formed portion of the stock is a recess of substantially rectangular shape in which the cups can be partially received.

5. A paint brush according to claim 1, in which the cups of adjacent brush head units removeably attached to the stock abut one another.

6. A paint brush according to claim 1, in which the one end portion on the stock is a spigot, said elongate handle has a socket formed therein for receiving the spigot on said stock, cooperating means in said socket of the handle and on said spigot on the stock whereby they securely and resiliently frictionally engage one another. 

1. A paint brush comprising a stock integrally formed of plastic and having on one end a portion for attaching an elongated handle and at the opposite end socket means for removeably attaching a plurality of brush head units; an elongated handle attached to said one end portion of the stock; said socket means in the stock extending longitudinally and substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of said handle; brush head units for attachment to said stock, each having spigot means extending from one end longitudinally with respect to the axis of the handle for removeable receipt in said socket means of the stock and a cup extending oppositely to said spigot means and thereby substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of said handle, said cup having securely retained therein one end of an elongated body for use in applying paint to a surface; said socket means in the stock and said spigot means on each brush head unit having cooperating means whereby each brush head can be independently, securely and resiliently frictionally engaged in each socket; said stock adjacent each socket means therein having a formed abutment portion to receive a cooperating shaped portion on each cup of the brush head to prevent movement in all directions except longitudinal; whereby in use, the cup of a brush head unit can be manually gripped and inserted and detached from the stock, by exerting a force longitudinally thereto which is sufficient to overcome the frictional retaining force, to thereby readily reduce the effective width of the paint brush.
 2. A paint brush according to claim 1, wherein each spigot is of reduced cross-sectional area relative to that of the cup on which it is formed.
 3. A paint brush according to claim 1, in whIch said cooperating shaped portion on each cup is a substantially rectangular locking key formed at the neck of each spigot, said formed portion on the stock is a recess of corresponding shape formed at the mouth of each socket so that each locking key can engage a respective recess on insertion of the spigots into the sockets.
 4. A paint brush according to claim 1, in which each of the cups is substantially square in cross-section, and the said formed portion of the stock is a recess of substantially rectangular shape in which the cups can be partially received.
 5. A paint brush according to claim 1, in which the cups of adjacent brush head units removeably attached to the stock abut one another.
 6. A paint brush according to claim 1, in which the one end portion on the stock is a spigot, said elongate handle has a socket formed therein for receiving the spigot on said stock, cooperating means in said socket of the handle and on said spigot on the stock whereby they securely and resiliently frictionally engage one another. 